About Last Night: Philly Farm & Food Fest
Yesterday, the third annual Philly Farm and Food Fest brought area growers, producers, and eaters to the Convention Center for a tasty, noisy festival of local edibles. A joint project of Fair Food and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, the event featured representation by more than 130 farmers and food artisans and how-to demos of hands-on, homestead-y skills like mozzarella-making, beekeeping, and canning. The heart of the event though was the chance for attendees to meet producers, ask questions, and taste an amazing variety of local products: cheeses, sauerkraut, grass-fed beef sticks, green juice, chutney, soups, shrubs, granola, and more. Exhibitors included Philly favorites like Birchrun Hills Farm cheeses, ReAnimator Coffee, Weckerly’s ice cream, and Metropolitan Bakery, but there were plenty of fresh-faced newcomers to the scene as well. Keep an eye out for West Philly-based RedFox’s rosemary caramel popcorn, Crisp & Co.’s puckery pickles, inventive nut butters by PB&Jams, and Chaikhana Chai’s pleasantly spicy masala.
And yeah, we got pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.
Local-loving restaurants also jumped in on the action. Chefs Andrew and Kristin Wood from Russet were on hand sampling chicken liver crostini, and Sam Mink of the Sansom Street Oyster House led a tasting of local oysters and clams from Cape May Salts, the Choptank Oyster Company, and the Heritage Shellfish Cooperative. Because you can’t have a party this big in Philly without some local hooch, refreshment flowed in the Local Libations Lounge in the form of brews by Dock Street and Victory, local wines by Paradocx, and the always-tasty spirits from Philadelphia Distilling. Asian pear orchard Subarashii Kudamono even debuted a new wine made from their fruit that would be perfect in a summery sangria.
If you missed it, you’ll just have to wait until next year for your chance at round four, but check out the fulllist of exhibitors here and DIY your own tasting of local goodness!
